This article is part of our DraftKings MLB series.
It's an abbreviated MLB schedule Thursday night. We have five games on the slate, with the first pitch at 7:07 p.m. ET. Looking for a few recommendations for your lineups? Then you've come to the right place!
Pitching
Logan Webb, SF at COL ($8,800): Rarely do I recommend pitchers at Coors Field, but Webb has a profile ideal to succeed in the Mile High City. He's allowed a mere 0.70 homers per nine innings in his career, and this season he has a 61.1 groundball percentage and a 16.6 line-drive percentage. Even with a stark home-field advantage for their offense, the Rockies are below average in terms of runs scored and have a .309 OBP. I think Webb can handle this one.
Kenta Maeda, MIN at CWS ($7,800): Maeda has struggled quite a bit at home, but on the road he has a 3.42 ERA. Not remarkable, sure, but the White Sox are only remarkable offensively in terms of futility. Specifically, they have a .295 OBP as a team, last in MLB.
Top Target
There was always going to be a comedown from a record-breaking season, especially with injuries thrown into the mix, but let us not overlook Aaron Judge ($6,300). He has a .390 OBP and has hit 31 homers in only 91 games. Judge also has an 1.107 OPS on the road. The Red Sox pitching situation is up in the air at the moment, owing in part to a rain-provoked doubleheader. Rotowire's pitching grid has Chris Murphy in line to start, which indicates to me a bullpen game. That's no problem for Judge, who has an OPS over 1.000 against righties and lefties since 2021.
Bargain Bat
Over the last three weeks, Max Kepler ($4,000) has posted a .931 OPS. Much of that success has come against righties, naturally, and the southpaw has an .819 OPS against right-handed pitchers this season. Rotowire has Jose Urena projected to get his second start for the White Sox on Thursday. He hasn't had an ERA under 5.00 since 2018.
Stacks to Consider
Red Sox vs. Yankees (Clarke Schmidt): Justin Turner ($4,700), Triston Casas ($4,400), Connor Wong ($3,000)
Another rainout in Boston means another doubleheader for these teams. It also means Schmidt has, once again, seen his start postponed. Eventually the Sox will get the chance to tee off on him, I assume. He has a 5.29 ERA on the road, and a 5.01 ERA in general over his last nine starts. Hopefully, weather permitting, a Boston stack against Schmidt finally comes to fruition.
In his first year with the Red Sox, Turner has hit .283 with 23 homers. He's quite found of his new home park, as he has an .859 OPS at Fenway in 2023. Casas brings a lot of power, having slugged .494 and hit 24 home runs. The southpaw has an .867 OPS versus righties, but also a .900 OPS at home. Wong, a catcher, has hit .251 with nine homers and six stolen bases. He likes Fenway, where he has a .795 OPS in his career, but Wong also prefers to face his fellow righties. The 27-year-old has a .790 OPS versus right handers, a good number for his position.
Giants at Rockies (Chase Anderson): Thairo Estrada ($5,000), Wilmer Flores ($4,900), Joc Pederson ($4,800)
This is likely to be Anderson's fourth season in a row with an ERA over 6.00. Here's the twist: Only 14 of his appearances in that time have been with the Rockies, so this isn't all Coors Field. Righties have hit .299 against Anderson, while lefties have hit .295, so options aren't hard to find from the Giants, even if they lack a star bat.
Estrada only has 12 homers, but he's hit .272 with 26 doubles and 21 stolen bases. Doubles power and speed play well at Coors Field, too. It's not all about home runs. Flores has hit 22 homers and slugged .526. He's also shown a ton of power away from the bay, having managed a .987 OPS on the road. The homers haven't been there to the same degree as usual for Pederson, but this is the right scenario for him. He has an .832 OPS against righties, and also an .818 OPS in away games.
